I've been playing with some of these instructions this week, especially the business about grooving on sensations, fakin' it until you're makin' , making believe I'm in vacation/somewhere exotic, stopping to smell the roses to the max, that sort of thing. No PCE yet, but I find it puts me in a marvelous mood (guessin' that's what you kids call an "EE", right?), so I don't really mind.

And when I say "marvelous mood", I mean it puts a smile on my face, it makes me friendly toward people, it makes me less resentful, it makes me happy to be alive, it makes me feel like I'm appreciating things more, it makes me feel like I'm living more intensely, and it just makes me happy.

Ironically, I think these are the sorts of reasons many of us got into Buddhist meditation in the first place: wanting to be here more, wanting to miss less. It would be great to experience the PCE again, but honestly I'm happy with what I've accomplished so far.

Also, doing this gives me a better sense of humor, not just about external events, but internal ones, as well. I know it's very anti-AF, but if some dark or mean thought passes through my mind while I'm doing this, I often find it really funny. Thankfully we're in the age of smartphones, so if someone sees me laughing out loud for no apparent reason, they just assume I'm reading something funny on the internet.

The only problem with this is that it takes energy, and it feels a little exhausting at times or like it takes too much energy to get it going. If I can push myself to start taking things in again, it gets some momentum, and there's less effort required. Though I find that in the hours after lunch, I'm inclined to just allow myself to be in a spaced-out or even negative mood rather than give the push. So I'll watch that and see if I find some ways around it or if I just get in the habit of pushing through that.

Some of this stuff is inspiring, too.

I'm not terribly interested in AF. I am in favor of being more present-centered and enjoying being alive, though. So I'm finding this practice useful.

I haven't read many AF threads, so forgive me if this question has been discussed to death: how do you think this practice relates to insight? On the surface it seems like it would be a distraction, or might alter the outcome.

Hey Fitter,

Fitter Stroke:



Not at all.

Richard:



I suggest that you read about the actualism method from the original source to clear this kinds of misconceptions, particularly: this and this.

Cheers!

As a method, it doesn't have much in common with insight. The method of insight is to break things down, unwind the experience layer by layer, go beyond content to clearly perceive universal features of sensations. The AF method - at least as I understand it - is to enjoy things just as they are at the surface. The only "feature" of experience one seems to be getting at is that there's something enjoyable just about sensations, almost no matter what they are.

They seem to have different destinations. The terminus of insight is 4th technical path. The terminus of this "smelling the roses" practice seems to be the PCE. (And then it seems like the PCE can be used, in concert with some forms of self-inquiry, in the service of establishing AF.) The PCE is unlike anything I've encountered along the insight path. In fact, every PCE I had, I had before starting insight meditation.

To put it in Kenneth Folk's terminology, insight is a 1st gear practice; the PCE is a 3rd gear experience, though. It's direct, immediate perception. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. It has more in common with Eckhart Tolle than with sutric methods.

As for whether they're a distraction: some people think they're contradictory; some don't. My feeling, based upon my humble attempts to get the PCE, is that there's no contradiction. Anything that's keeping me more in the present moment than lost in thought, lost in imagination, lost in planning and memory, lost in resentment, has to be a good thing. But then, I'm not trying for AF. I'm cultivating the PCE as one valuable experience amongst many (including jhanas, including open awareness, etc.).

I'll probably have a better answer after effing around with it longer.

Whoever designed that web page should be put in the docket at The Hague.

I actually [no pun intended] have read that quote from "Richard". What I meant was that my "harmful" fantasies don't bother me. I don't feel like I have to get rid of them or any dark feelings.